I travel to New Orleans often for business; I have been there twice since April and live in Seattle. I missed an opportunity to go to Cochon in April and had it at the top of my list for my trip in August. Unfortunately it was one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had in New Orleans; and it certainly makes the top-five worst dining experiences of my life.

I think part of the problem was the overly aggressive waitstaff; and their need to up-sell every item we ordered: "Maybe you would like two of those?" "You are only having sparkling water?" and on and on it went.

Speaking of the sparkling water...three of us ordered. The wait staff brought a bottle poured the entire bottle into two glasses and then asked if we would like to order another one...even though obviously we needed more to fill a glass for myself. I quickly switched to New Orleans finest.

We ordered our entrees. When a chef friend across from me pulled a piece of plastic out of his food and placed it on the edge of his plate. I quickly stopped eating my Rabbit & Dumplings (the same entree) It was full of bones already...and the plastic was the icing on the cake.

When we pointed out the situation to our waiter he took the dish back to the kitchen where they removed the piece of plastic and brought the same plate back and proclaimed it to be nothing more than celery. They did not offer another option; they just brought the plate back.

Thankfully they did end up comping one of our meals; but to inform a customer (who is a chef; and his table who was full of food marketers) that we were wrong and that it was celery and simply drop the plate back in front of the guest was unacceptable. A piece of PLASTIC is not a piece of celery.

Last night I dined in the garden at Vintage restaurant in Ketchum, ID. This had to be one of the finest dining experiences I have ever had. Seated among a grove of trees, on the lawn, I dined on Mango Soup and Gazpacho, Drank Rose, then a fabulous pork dish, and finally grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream. The service was attentive and relaxed, like you were dining at a friends home.

Crush: Dined once, am thinking about a second time, but hesitant. I think Chef Wilson is wonderful, but there is too much conflict in his food. I think he needs to pull back a bit and remember less is often more.

Looking for reviews of Vintage Restaurant in Ketchum, ID. If anyone has dined here please let me know. I have a group of 8 food marketers I am bringing to Ketchum and am thinking of this restaurant as a possible dinner location.

It is hard to go wrong with Rovers, The Herbfarm (a new chef just took over for Jerry Traunfeld, I can't imagine filling those shoes), and Canlis too. They are special event places. Cascadia to me seems quite ordinary.

You will enjoy his company. Not to say that the drinks aren't a little expensive I spent 5 hours there one evening and the 4 of us could have had dinner for what we spent on coctails and appetizers but it is worth it. The Hemingway Daquiri is fantastic!

Sambar is fantastic, I was at Vessel last Wednesday night and I dont think the Bartender was having a good night. Cocktails were not good and he kept dropping everything. The Vessel cocktail there when made properly is fantastic and potent!